Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy stuck to his guns and said benefit shows will not be permitted during a meeting with the bigwigs of the Telugu film industry held today. He met the representatives of the film industry today at the Integrated Command Control Centre and delivered a strong message that there will be no compromise on law and order or special privilege for celebrities. The meeting was convened to ease the tension over the stampede at Sandhya Theatre and the subsequent arrest of Allu Arjun which prompted the industry people to rally around the hero. The CM had then lashed out at the film industry on the floor of the Assembly, urging it to retain its humanity.
The meeting held to assuage the doubts and misunderstandings of the film industry, was organized with producer and distributor Dil Raju, also the chairman of Telangana Film Development Corporation, taking the initiative. Among the Tollywood heroes, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh were present along with other key producers and directors. Allu Arjun’s father Allu Aravind was also present. The videos of the stampede at Sandhya Theatre were shown to impress upon the film fraternity the seriousness of the incident. Reddy also made it clear that he would stand by what he said in the Assembly.
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“As the Chief Minister ,it is my responsibility to enforce the laws. I do not have any personal preferences. Let us all develop the Telugu film industry together without being confined to only the Telugu language. The government is ready to extend full support to the industry,” said Reddy. He reminded them that the film industry has a social responsibility and it must promote social issues and campaign against drugs. He also urged them to promote temple tourism and eco-tourism through their films. The government will also impose a small amount of cess on ticket sales which will be used to fund integrated residential schools. He suggested the formation of a Cabinet sub-committee to resolve the problems of the industry and asked the film fraternity to form a similar committee to take up issues with the government. He also called for a national conclave on films in which the top representatives of the film industry from the country and globally would take part.
Later, Dil Raju said that ticket prices and benefit shows were small issues as the chief minister wanted to present the larger canvas before the representatives for the growth of the industry. Benefit shows held mostly at midnight are organized to ensure a buildup of excitement among the fans. With most films lined up to release during Sankranti, taking advantage of the festive season, the producer and distributors face the challenging task of how to build up the excitement of fans without any benefit show. The government banned benefit shows after the stampede incident.
